ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
India’s Cumulative COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage crosses the landmark of 89 Cr
More than 64.40 Lakh doses administered in the last 24 hours
Recovery Rate currently at 97.86%; Highest since March 2020
26,727 New Cases reported in the last 24 hours
India's Active Caseload  is 0.82% of Total Cases
Weekly Positivity Rate  less than 3% for last 98 days
With the administration of 64,40,451 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed the landmark of 89 Cr  as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 86,46,674 sessions.
The break-up of the cumulative figure as per the provisional report till 7 am today include:
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HCWs
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1st Dose
|
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1,03,72,796
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2nd Dose
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88,95,117
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FLWs
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|
1st Dose
|
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1,83,52,779
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2nd Dose
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1,50,06,337
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Age Group 18-44 years
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1st Dose
|
|
36,05,69,116
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
8,30,27,778
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|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
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15,95,61,641
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
7,68,32,812
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Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
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10,13,72,713
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
5,62,16,918
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|
Total
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89,02,08,007
The recovery of 28,246 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients  to 3,30,43,144.
Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.86%. Recovery Rate is currently at its highest peak since March 2020.
Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend of less than 50,000 Daily New Cases that is being reported for 96 consecutive days now.
26,727 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
The Active Caseload is presently 2,75,224, which is the lowest in 196 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.82% of the country's total Positive Cases.
The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of
15,20,899 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 57.04 Cr  cumulative tests.
While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, Weekly Positivity Rate at 1.70% remains less than 3% for the last 98 days now. The Daily Positivity rate reported to be 1.76%. The daily Positivity rate has remained below 3% for last 32 days and below 5% for 115 consecutive days now.
Ministry of Steel
Union Minister of State for Steel, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste reviews performance of NMDC Limited
Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Union Minister of State for Steel and Rural Development visited the Head Office of NMDC Limited, Ministry of Steel at Hyderabad yesterday. The Minister met the CMD, Directors and Senior Officials of the company and reviewed NMDC’s performance.
Shri Kulaste said, NMDC is one of the largest mining companies in India and has been the backbone of steel industry ensuring raw material security to steel producers. He appreciated NMDC’s efforts for carrying out sustainable and responsible mining and also showed keen interest in the ongoing expansion projects and congratulated NMDC for its comprehensive CSR initiatives.
Earlier, CMD, NMDC Shri Sumit Deb welcomed the Minister and stated that this is the second visit of Shri Kulaste to NMDC Head office and also apprised the Minister about NMDC’s performance, progress of ongoing projects and assured that best efforts are being put to enhance production and productivity.
Ministry of Finance
CBDT issues clarification on the applicability of TDS provisions on Mutual Fund dividend
The Finance Bill, 2020 proposed to remove Dividend Distribution Tax  at the level of Company/ Mutual Fund and proposed to tax the same in the hands of share/unit holder. It was also proposed to levy TDS at the rate of 10% on the dividend/ income paid by the Company/Mutual Fund to its share/unit holder if the amount of such dividend/ income exceeds five thousand rupees in a Financial Year.
Queries have been received to the effect that whether under the proposed section 194K, the Mutual Fund would be required to deduct TDS also on the capital gains arising on redemption of units. It is hereby clarified that under the proposed section, a Mutual Fund shall be required to deduct TDS @ 10% only on dividend payment and no tax shall be required to be deducted by the Mutual Fund on income which is in the nature of capital gains. Necessary clarification, if required, shall be proposed in the relevant provision of the law.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Cabinet approves establishment of National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation in Sehore District instead of Bhopal
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved,in partial modification of the earlier decision taken on 16.05.2018, theestablishment of National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation in Sehore District  instead of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Benefits:
NIMHR will be the first of its kind in the country in the area of mental health rehabilitation. It will serve as an institution of excellence for capacity building in human resource and research in the area of mental health rehabilitation, and also recommending body suggesting models/protocols for effective rehabilitation of persons with mental illness.
Ministry of Labour & Employment
EPFO adds 15.41 lakh net subscribers in September, 2021
First-time job seekers, joining organized sector workforce in large numbers, contributingmore than 47% of total net subscriber additions in September
The provisional payroll data of EPFO released today highlights that EPFO has added around 15.41 lakh net subscribers during the month of September 2021. For the month of September 2021, the net subscriber additions have increased by 1.81 lakh as compared to the previous month of August 2021 when it was 13.60 lakh.
Out of the total 15.41 lakh net subscribers, around 8.95 lakh new members have been registered under the provisions of EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time. Around 6.46 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing jobs within the establishments covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952, thereby opting to continue their membership with EPFO by transferring their funds instead of opting for final withdrawal.
Age-wise comparison of payroll data shows that the age-group of 22-25 years has registered highest number of net enrolments with 4.12 lakh additions during September, 2021. This is followed by age-group of 18-21 with around 3.18 lakh net enrolments. This indicates that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and have contributed around 47.39 % of total net subscriber additions in September, 2021.
State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in lead by adding approximately 9.41 lakh subscribers during the month, which is around 61 % of total net payroll addition across all age groups.
Gender-wise analysis indicates that the net share of female enrolment during the month is around 3.27 lakh. Month on month comparison shows that the net addition of female subscribers has increased roughly by 0.60 lakh during in the month of September in comparison to the previous month of August, 2021 when 2.67 lakh net subscribers were added into the payroll. This is largely due to lower female member exits during the month.
Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category  constitutes 41.22% of total subscriber addition during the month. Apart from this, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries like trading-commercial establishments, engineering products, building & construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments.
The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updation of employee record is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month. From the month of May-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.
EPFO is a social security organization responsible for providing a number ofsocial security benefits to the members covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952. EPFO reaffirms its vision to be an innovation driven social security organisation aiming to ensureuninterrupted service delivery to its stakeholders.
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Shri Dharmendar Pradhan holds series of meetings with the Russian minister and business leaders; discusses ways to enhance bilateral cooperation
(Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, on his 4-day Russian visit, today had a productive meeting with Mr. Sergey Tyrtsev, first Deputy minister for development of the Russian Far East and Artic. Furthering energy cooperation the Indian and Far East Russia, particularly on sourcing coking coal and other minerals, were discussed in the meeting.
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan also met Vice Chairman of RosGeo, the national geological company, which does Seismic and Geological Study of oil, Gas and other issues. Rosgeo was a part of the efforts to discover the ‘Bombay high’ field of ONGC. Areas of cooperation in coking coal, oil, gas and rare earth metals, specially Lithium, was discussed during the meeting.
Shri Pradhan interacted with Senior Management of Vostochny inter modal container port. It is one of the oldest and year-round operation port in the Russian Far East, specialized in coal handling and suitable for handling large tonnage ships. The Minister discussed with port authorities about their expansion plans and also on ways to secure more coking coal for the domestic steel industry.
Representatives of Indian Steel and Coal companies held separate meetings with their Russian counterparts. Long-term cooperation with Russian Far East in Coal Sector will help India Biz the demand gap of coking coal in the Country.
The Minister also met Mr. Vadim Mikhailov, Deputy Head of Russian Railways and discussed about the logistical issues in evacuation of coking coal. Mr. Mikhailov informed that Russian railways is completing the necessary infrastructure by 2020 to decongest railway lines and to ensure smooth connectivity between ports and Mining Centre.
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YB
In her inaugural address, Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan motivated the women MLAs with her valuable experiences and appreciated their efforts towards the nation and the public. She said that women have come a long way from being a homemaker to becoming a changemaker and though it is not an easy task but women have dedicated their lives to serve the country and humanity. She also said that it was not an easy job to be a people’s representative and no matter the number of challenges but women must be confident and consistent in their hardwork and they will achieve their goals. She also said that there is a need to prepare men to live with strong women.
While delivering her inaugural address, Chairperson, NCW, Ms Rekha Sharma said that the workshop has been conceptualised and developed with an aim to promote capacity-building for women leaders. She said that every woman is a leader and all that they need to do is polish their skills.
The three-day workshop has been organised in Udaipur, Rajasthan in collaboration with National Gender and Child centre, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration . During the workshop, the women MLAs will be trained on gender-responsive governance in different sessions such as ‘Effective Leadership’, ‘Inclusive Governance’, ‘Understanding Gender-Based Violence, ‘Gender Sensitive and Inclusive Communication’, ‘Strengthening Legislative Traditions’ and ‘Digital Literacy & Social Media Training, etc. The workshop is being attended by 25 participants from the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Odisha.
The primary objective of the workshop is to sensitize and assist the Elected Women Representatives to build on their identified strengths and increase the levels of self- awareness in a manner that would help them in managing different and challenging paths ahead, in line with the overall ‘She is a Change maker’ programme.
Under 'She Is A Changemaker' project, the Commission has organised capacity building programme for women representatives in association with region-wise training institutes with an aim to improve their decision making, communication skills, effective management, etc.
Special Service and Features
Gold worth Rs. 19.78 lakhsseized by Chennai Air Customs.
Based on intelligence, one Mohamed AbubackerJainulabideen, 62of Chennai, who arrived from Dubai by Emirates flight EK 544 was intercepted at exit. The passenger was on wheelchair and appeared to be nervous. On questioning, he gave evasive replies.On personal search,4 gold bar of foreign markingweighing 465 grams were found concealed inpant’s inner pocket. Total, 465 grams of gold valued at Rs. 19.78lakhs was recovered and seized under Customs Act.
465 grams of gold worth Rs. 19.78 lakhsrecovered and seized by under Customs Act.
Further investigation is under progress.
This is stated in a press release issued by the Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport.
Ministry of Defence
Rescue of Five Fishermen by INS Sharda
Indian Naval Ship Sharda, based at Kochi, rescued five fishermen at sea who were floating in the water after their fishing vessel, FV Omkaram, sank, some 35 km North West of Azhikal port, on 04 Mar 19. The incident occurred at around 09:30 AM when the ship was on patrol in the area.
An alert lookout sighted a movement in the water, which turned out to be the five floating fishermen. The ship acted with alacrity and immediately altered course towards the survivors. It thereafter lowered its life boats and successfully rescued and brought on board all five fishermen within ten minutes of the initial sighting. Two of the fishermen had sustained minor injuries and were administered first aid by the Ship’s Medical Team. The ship thereafter headed for Kochi to disembark the survivors.
The rescued fishermen have indicated that they had cast off from Cheruvathur in Kasargod at 04:00 AM on 04 Mar 19. As per them, water started entering their 13 feet boat, which they were unable to control, and the heavy flooding ultimately caused the boat to sink. The fishermen had to remain afloat without any life saving devices from 06:30 AM till the time they were rescued. They were out of mobile range and were unable to swim or to seek help from other boats. They said that they had removed their clothes to wave at the ship and had almost lost hope of being rescued. All the survivors Manoharan  , Vasav , Chandran , Suresh , Surendran  belong to Kanjanghad, Kasargod. The survivors were provided food, water and fresh clothing by the ship’s crew. Efforts are on to inform their next of kin as well as Trikkaripur local coastal police station.
INS Sharda is an offshore Patrol Vessel of the Indian Navy and presently in its 26th year of commission. The ship is actively deployed for coastal surveillance and patrolling off Kerala and Lakshadweep islands and has also undertaken regular anti-piracy deployments in the Gulf of Aden. The ship was earlier too involved in rescue of 21 fishermen during Cyclone Ockhi and was also used for distribution of relief material during Op Madad, which was launched by the Southern Naval Command, at the time of the Kerala floods. The ship is presently commanded by Commander R Anoop.
Department of Space
Launching of Space Station
The activities associated with Space station being an extension of Gaganyaan Programme, will be taken up after the demonstration of Human space flight.
This information was provided by the Union Minister of State  Development of North-Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Union Government is working on Act East Policy to bring more investment.
Centre wants to honour tax payers: Anurag Thakur.
Kolkata, January 16, 2020.
Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Anurag Thakur today stated that Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working on Act East Policy to bring more investment and growth in the region as well as in the country to achieve 5 trillion dollar economy mark by 2025. Shri Thakur added that the government wants to honour the tax payers and treat them well and not to harass them. The Minister was speaking at a special session jointly held by Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry , Bharat Chamber of Commerce , Calcutta Chamber of Commerce , Direct Taxes Professionals’ Association  and Association of Corporate Advisers and Executives  here in the city today. The Minister said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for big and bold decisions and we have never failed in it, whether it is 2014 or 2019. We have gone for the mergers of banks to bring more synergy and capacity building. Banks will be ready to fund the industries and we have also cut down the historic corporate tax from 30 per cent to 15 per cent, to boost the investment and growth in the system, Shri Takhur added.
Highlighting the series of steps taken by the Government to strengthen the economy, Shri Thakur said, tax concessions have been given to industries, foreign direct investments and MSME sector. He said, introduction of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code  is a significant step towards cleaning and strengthening of the financial system of the country.
In Ease of Doing Business, India has moved 14 places above to be 63rd from 77th position. Make-in-India programme is a major initiative towards increasing the indigenous capacity of the country to produce world class goods and services, he said.
Replying to the queries of the audience, the Minister said, Central Government is taking all steps to strengthen the National Company Law Tribunal  and its appellate tribunal in terms of benches, courts and members to reduce pendency of cases. Considering the heavy caseload at some existing benches, additional members have been appointed and additional courts operationalised from time to time, the Minister added.
The Minister invited suggestions for the upcoming budget. Suggestions on Real Estate, Tea industry, GST and Start Up etc were given to the Minister.
SSS/MSA
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Prime Minister's Office
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India chairs the 6th meeting of Coordination Committee on India’s G20 Presidency
Reviews administrative arrangements for the G-20 Summit to be held in New Delhi on 9th and 10th September
All agencies to work in a “Whole of Government” approach to make the G20 Summit a success: Dr. P.K. Mishra
Dry runs and mock exercises to be held at Summit Venue to facilitate seamless working of different agencies
The 6th meeting of the Coordination Committee on India’s G20 Presidency was held at the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre , Pragati Maidan, New Delhi today. The focus of the meeting chaired by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. P.K. Mishra, was to review the preparatory aspects relating to the G20 Summit to be held in New Delhi on 9th & 10th September, 2023.
In this context, the Committee took stock of the arrangements at the Summit venue as well as all aspects relating to protocol, security, airport coordination, media, infrastructure upgrades and arrangements in Delhi and neighbouring states, etc. Dr. Mishra called on all agencies to work in a “Whole of Government” approach, to make the G20 Summit a success.
The Committee members also visited venues proposed for different meetings and perused minutest details. It was also decided to have dry runs/mock exercises so that different agencies work in a seamless manner. The Committee also provided guidance and direction for work on different preparatory aspects for the forthcoming G20 Summit and decided to convene again for a further review in the next two weeks.
The Meeting of the Coordination Committee also provided an opportunity for a review of G20 meetings held so far and the remaining meetings scheduled under India’s G20 Presidency. The Committee noted that under its G20 Presidency, India has organized 170 meetings in 55 different locations in the country till date. A number of meetings at the Ministerial level are scheduled to be held in the months of July and August 2023.
The Coordination Committee has been authorized by the Cabinet to oversee all preparations and arrangements relating to India’s Presidency of the G20. Till date, five meetings of the Coordination Committee have taken place. In addition to this, a number of meetings have been held to discuss specific substantive and logistical issues relating to India’s G20 Presidency.
Other dignitaries and senior officials present during the meeting included Shri Ajit Doval, NSA, Shri V.K. Saxena, Lt. Governor of Delhi, Shri Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary, among others.
Cabinet
Cabinet approves setting up of the National Commission for Homoeopathy  Bill, 2018
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the draft National Commission for Homoeopathy, Bill, 2018, which seeks to replace the existing regulator Central Council for Homoeopathy  with a new body to ensure transparency.
The draft bill provides for the constitution of a National Commission with three autonomous boards entrusted with conducting overall education of Homoeopathy by Homoeopathy Education Board. The Board of assessment and rating to assess and grant permission to educational institutions of Homoeopathy and Board of ethics and registration of practitioners of Homoeopathy to maintain National Register and ethical issues relating to practice are under the National Commission forHomoeopathy.
It also proposes a common entrance exam and an exit exam which all graduates will have to clear to get practicing licenses. Further, a teacher's eligibility test has been proposed to assess the standard of teachers before appointment and promotions.
It further aims at bringing reforms in the medical education of Homoeopathy in lines with the National Medical Commission proposed for setting up for Allopathy system of medicine. The CCH had been earlier superseded by Board of Governors through an Ordinance and subsequent amendment of Act.